


Watching and Waiting

by BWolf_20



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28968744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BWolf_20/pseuds/BWolf_20
Summary: When Maggie came back, along with her son, Negan finds himself standing off to the side, watching and waiting in anticipation of her fury, whether it came in the form of yelling, or his death.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon & Negan, Judith Grimes & Negan, Maggie Greene & Negan, Negan & Carol Peletier
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I definitely wanted to write a fic dealing with Maggie's reaction to seeing Negan out of his cell. Only a few lines of dialogue comes from watching a table read for a future Walking Dead episode, but the majority is taking my own spin on it and turning it into a bit more than just a reaction from Maggie.

Negan consciously took a step back as Maggie moved from person to person, wrapping her arms around old friends she hadn’t seen in a couple of years. Big smiles and cheerful greetings rung in the air as Maggie became the center of attention of their little group in the woods. It was the feel good treat that was needed after having defeated the Whisperers; the sight of an old comrade. He had no idea if she had had a hand in helping them, but he had a feeling she did. There didn’t seem to be another reason for her to be present. 

Daryl stepped forward just as Maggie finished greeting Carol. If Negan wasn’t mistaken Daryl’s eyes looked a little teary even from where he was standing as he pulled Maggie into a tight hug. After that moment where he had lured Beta out and Daryl had taken the kill, a good feeling about the future had sparked within him. Daryl gave a friendly kind of slap across his chest, signaling that they had done it and that it was time to go, together. It was a smidgen of a sign that maybe he could actually find a place among a community he once subjugated. Yet seeing Daryl hug Maggie so made it feel as if he was overstepping his boundaries. 

He took another step back and bowed his head. No one was a more powerful reminder of his past to these people than her. Of course they’d all been hurt, and he knew some of their loved ones had most likely lost their lives in the Savior war, but it had been Maggie who had cried out the loudest that he needed to be put down. She had managed to worm her way down to his cell, determined to kill him when in all that time no one else had dared defy Rick’s order to harm him. 

She released Daryl and smiled widely as Judith happily embraced her. His stomach was clenching then. He didn’t feel it was appropriate to be there, lingering as part of her reunion; as part of these people’s reunion with her. If she finally took notice of him the whole train of joy would breakdown. For that reason he backed away to slip more into the shadows of the trees. 

“Going somewhere?”

He jumped slightly at hearing Lydia. She was standing on the outside just like him, so naturally she’d caught onto the fact that he was trying to wander off. He threw up a small smile, wanting to mask his nervousness at Maggie’s presence. 

“Fight’s done so I’m, heading back.”

When he looked away from her he saw with a twisting heart that their little conversation had caught the attention of Maggie. The happiness she showed for reuniting with her people again, dropped in favor of an expression showing quiet anger along with mild confusion. He forced a smile and gave a half wave.

“Hey Maggie,” he greeted lightly.

“What’s he doing out?”

“I didn’t escape if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Carol stepped forward with a hand placed on her shoulder.

“It’s, complicated.”

She turned to her with a sharp look and a face that would tell anyone that there was nothing complicated about him being out. Negan started to take a step forward, but thought it might not help the tension. 

“What’s complicated about what he did?” Maggie hissed.

“Maggie,” Daryl tried, but Carol held up a hand to stop him defending her further. 

“We needed him,” Carol explained calmly. “I made the call, without telling the others. I let him out, to help us deal with the Whisperers.”

“You let him—” 

“We were going to lose everything. Negan is the reason we didn’t.”

Negan appreciated the fact that she was the one to brief her, but it was followed up with a look he couldn’t quite read. It had him wondering if Carol was actually wondering if she’d done the right thing by letting him out, especially now that Maggie was back. As for Maggie, she curled up her fingers into fists a few times. Negan could see the anger bubbling so clearly just under the surface. He awaited that blow up. He awaited the moment when she’d rage and turn all eyes on him as their enemy once again.

Maggie threw him a quick distrustful look before dropping her eyes.

“We can discuss this later. Right now, I could use a few supplies for the trip back.”

“The trip back?” Daryl asked. “You’re not staying?”

The anger was momentarily gone as she gave the briefest smile. 

“I can stay…” she paused as she cast her gaze at Negan who shifted uncomfortably, “but not long.”

She made her exit then, and Negan was left to wonder what to do with himself. A few cautious eyes were turning his way, and he could just imagine that they were starting to question what should be done with him. He had done his part in helping them succeed, but that didn’t mean he had become one with the community. He had lent a huge hand by taking out their enemy’s leader, and he believed that much earned him freedom from jail. Now that Maggie was back, his fate was on the table again. And here he was hoping it wouldn’t take much for the people to be convinced that he was okay.

“What’s, going on?” Lydia asked. She knew he’d been a prisoner, but she didn’t know just how personal things had gotten between him and that woman.

“Shit I hoped wouldn’t come back to bite me in the ass.”

Negan had settled on the same steps Judith often occupied whenever she came around to visit him in his cell. For the time being he wasn’t forced to return to his little cot behind the bars when he had finished his work, but it would be something of a home to him since he had no other form of housing in Alexandria. A council meeting would commence in a couple of days to decide where he needed to stand, but it was delayed now that Maggie was back, and especially since she wanted a say in the meeting even though she hadn’t lived among them in years. Apparently she was granted the right to lend her say as he’d been her husband’s killer. Anyone who’d lost someone thanks to him had a say.

He knew what Maggie would say, and the thought had him smiling sadly. He had wanted it long ago, but after all he’d done, to try and better himself, he wanted a chance to live; really live. 

He drew his eyes to the entrance gates of Alexandria. Maggie was currently at Hilltop, meeting new faces and mourning the lost. Eventually she would be coming through the gates to see him. He never dreaded anything more. It was almost enough for him to want protection, but he wouldn’t go as far as to ask for a guard. Whenever she came, he would accept whatever she wanted to do with him, just like he had accepted and egged on her desire to kill him.

“You’re looking a little pale.” He turned to see Carol observing him with a frown. “Doesn’t look right on you.”

“I don’t get much sun in that cell,” he excused quietly.

“Really. And I would’ve thought Maggie would have something to do with that.” 

He chuckled softly. He figured he must look extremely obvious to anyone paying him attention.

“She’s gonna kill me.”

“She tried once, and she changed her mind.”

“She could change it again after seeing me. And I wouldn’t blame her.”

Having nothing to say to that, Carol turned to go on her way. It wouldn’t do for her to tell him that Maggie might not kill him. That wasn’t the vibe going around right now afterall. 

“Do you regret it?” Negan suddenly asked before she could disappear. “Do you regret letting me out?”

She considered him for a moment before answering. 

“No. I needed a way to kill Alpha.” She turned her eyes to the passerby around them. “They’re not too happy about you helping her attack us. For some of the things you did while you were with them, I take responsibility.”

Negan’s shoulders drooped as he was brought back to the moment of standing alongside Alpha as she launched her attack on Hilltop. At the time he had wished he’d found a way to break from her and help them escape, but he stayed dedicated to his role. He wouldn’t give any defense for his decision, and he certainly didn’t feel right about her taking the blame.

“You should’ve have to.”

“It was my choice to trust you.”

“How’d you know you could?” he was genuinely curious as to how she could have had faith that he wouldn’t join up with the false walkers. Anyone else wouldn’t have risked it. But the way she looked into his eyes, he knew she could see what he was feeling. The fearful concern that no second chance could come for him because he wouldn’t deserve it.

“Because I saw you Negan. I saw what you wanted, what you feared. I just didn’t know it would take so damn long.”

He chuckled lightly and dropped his eyes. Once again he found himself in a moment where it was possible his life could begin again. First it was Daryl giving him the friendly slap, now it was Carol making a joke with him. They were baby steps to change, but it was threatened by the widow herself.

Carol walked away, and Negan was left to anticipate his meeting with Maggie once again.

Sleep wouldn’t come easily as he laid on his cot. Any little noise had him certain that Maggie had quietly slunk down to meet him just as she’d done before. Even after getting up to piss in the night, he spent a little time gazing through the bars of the window, watching for any sign of the Widow coming for a late night visit. He hated that he couldn’t be calm about it. If she was coming to yell he was ready to welcome it. If she was coming to kill him he could accept that too. He just wanted it to happen because it had to happen. She wouldn’t be able to ignore the fact that he was free. He didn’t expect her to wait for the council meeting to drop by. No. She would see him first and then decide. 

He dropped his forehead against the bars and shut his eyes and a swell of nausea hit his stomach. He saw her in that sickly form on her knees, crying out after he had smashed a bat into her husband’s head. She would never forget just as he wouldn’t. She was coming for him, but when.

“Come on Maggie,” he pleaded. He just wanted it to be over. He just wanted to know if he would continue to live, or die for his actions at last.

The nausea struck again, worse this time after the gates were open and Maggie at last walked through. It wasn’t the sight of Maggie that had his stomach feeling queasy. She made him anxious and shaky. What caused the nausea was the sight of the young boy by her side. He could tell right away that he was her son. 

Negan stumbled back, abandoning his current task of delivering laundry. Now that he’d been trusted enough not to have guards watching over him, he was free to slink under the shadow of a large tree near the side of a house. He watched as Maggie greeted people at the entrance and introduced her kid. His eyes fell on his face, and to Negan it was like seeing a ghost because he was a spitting image of the Asian man he’d killed. Why had he gone so far? Why couldn’t he have just stopped?

He turned away completely, abandoning his task in the process as Maggie and her boy fully entered. He didn’t imagine she’d seek him out while in the presence of her kid, but that wasn’t quite the reason he hid. He couldn’t help believing that she deserved to walk around Alexandria without having to catch a glimpse of him. Her son definitely deserved not to catch sight of his father’s killer even if he didn’t know who he was. 

“They’re trying to figure out what to do with you.”

Negan gave a small shrug and grinned at Rick’s best right-hand man from the other side of the bars to his open cell.

“It’s been three days and you still don’t know what to do with me?”

“The meeting’s been delayed.”

“Cause of Maggie,” Negan answered flatly. Daryl didn’t respond. “I know. I get it. Lock me up if you want. Makes no damn difference.”

Daryl looked as if he was struggling to come to terms with something. It was strange how to classify their relationship now. They weren’t friends, but they weren’t quite enemies either. At least that’s how Negan took it. 

“You helped us,” Daryl piped up. “They know you helped us.”

“Maggie won’t care.”

“Maybe not. Or maybe she’ll surprise us.”

“When is she coming?” he hurriedly asked. He searched the man’s face for some answer while hoping it didn’t show that he was eager to know about her arrival to see him. Daryl just looked a little confused. Perhaps he didn’t expect Maggie to pay him a second visit.

“What makes you think she will?”

He had to admit that was a good question. Maybe she really wouldn’t confront him. There was nothing to suggest she had to literally meet with him. All she had to do was discuss him with her old comrades and come to a conclusion. Maybe she couldn’t bare seeing him because it would only cause her pain. He understood that. He never thought too hard about how hard it must have been for her to journey down to see him the first time since he’d been far too interested in dying so he could see his long passed wife. He’d goaded her on and begged for death while focusing on his own anguish. He hadn’t even concerned himself with hers. He hadn’t even apologized to her. He’d only thought about escaping Rick’s hell through death. How selfish was that? And after she’d let him live, he had complained about how it wasn’t supposed to be like this. He wasn’t supposed to be wasting away behind bars. It wasn’t supposed to be his fate. There was no “thank you Maggie for letting me live” or “I’m sorry for what I did to you”. Even if she wouldn’t hear it, he could have felt it and said it, but he hadn’t.

Thinking on it now he wasn’t sure he’d felt much sorrow for her because he had yet to really change. But now it was there. Now there was a piece of humanity inside himself causing his heart to squeeze for her and her son’s loss. That piece had been missing for so long, and now it was back, made all the more clear because she had returned.

His eyes misted over. She might not come afterall, and in a way he thought that was better. He deserved the horror of anticipating her presence, but he didn’t deserve to see her again. He’d had his chance to apologize and he had failed. It was done. Helping these people didn’t matter. He was still that old Negan in their eyes, and Maggie would make sure they understood that. He was the type of stain that couldn’t be cleaned up and he would accept that.

“What’s wrong?”

Negan smiled at Judith as she handed him a tomato. She’d been nice enough to assist him in picking the vegetables of her own volition. No one stopped the child from talking with him, which he saw as a win. 

“Nothing,” he lied.

She observed him thoughtfully and he kicked himself for thinking for once he could throw bullshit her way without getting caught. She was capable of seeing through it easily.

“It’s Maggie isn’t it,” she said as though very certain. 

He didn’t forget that he’d told her about what he’d done. Since Maggie was around he was mildly surprised she wasn’t avoiding him. Surely Judith would’ve seen that it might be insensitive for her to keep up their friendly talks with her aunt near.

“You know me too well kiddo.” He accepted another freshly picked tomato from her. 

“I met her kid,” she said with a tone of interest. 

Negan jolted a little as the image of that kid’s face came to his mind. Dread filled his heart almost instantly.

“Oh.”

“His name’s Hershel. Named after Maggie’s dad.” That bit of information made him feel weirdly worse for some reason. Maybe because he was learning more about Maggie. “He was nice.”

“That’s good. I’m sure you’ll be good friends.”

“Maybe you and Maggie could be friends one day.”

He sighed. And here he’d thought she was very sharp about some of the darker matters of the world. But in truth she was still a hopeful kid.

“I don’t think it works that way sweetheart.”

“Well, I know about forgiving,” she countered. “My mother told me Glenn was forgiving. I think Maggie could be too.”

He cringed at the name, and his hand even shook in response. He didn’t want to talk about this with her. Their conversations were meant to be lighter, and this wasn’t a light subject. She hadn’t been there that night. She hadn’t seen just how bad the executions were, or how Maggie had reacted. She was removed from it, and that’s how it should stay.

“Why don’t you go and grab one of your math books. We’ll work on a problem together.”

She seemed disappointed at the change of subject, but she could understand that he didn’t want to push it further. So she rose to her feet to either fetch said book, or leave him alone for a while.

That night he went to sleep on his cot believing at last that Maggie wouldn’t confront him. There might not be anything she had to say to him, and he was okay with that even if he wanted to say a few things to her. It had to be better this way.

But a creaking of the door roused him. The tapping sound of feet walking across the floor had him opening blurry eyes.

Part of him wondered if he was dreaming right now because the figure of Maggie was standing right outside the opened door to his cell.


	2. Chapter 2

“I thought you’d die in this cell.”

As his eyes cleared Negan came to realize this wasn’t a dream. Maggie was really standing there, looking pissed from what he could tell in the light of the moon streaming through the window. Slowly Negan rose to a sitting position without taking his eyes off of her. He dropped his eyes down to her hands to see if she happened to be carrying a gun or any other form of a weapon. She had come without anything to kill him much to his confusion. Weirdly enough there was something of relief coating him, now that she had appeared at last.

He brought up a sad smile in response to her statement. 

“I thought I would too.”

“Not disappointed?” Maggie questioned with a shift in her expression. “Considering the last time we met you were begging me to kill you.”

Negan flinched at the memory and momentarily dropped his gaze.

“I’ve found a way to hang on. Judith and Gabe talked with me. I was given things to occupy my time.” He pointed her attention to the small bookcase on the side. 

“You talked to Judith,” she practically growled. 

He understood immediately why she was offended by it. As far as she was concerned no child should have gone anywhere near him. Michonne had been angered by the same thing as well. 

“She came to me on her own. Visited me from right out there.” He directed her attention to the window. “She was curious about me. And no I didn’t lie to her about why I was here. She knows.”

Maggie took a step closer. Her expression was the same as it had been when she had first come to see him.

“And somehow all that led to you being out?”

He had a feeling she already knew the events of the story. There was no reason for Maggie not to have asked someone about it. But he didn’t tell her this. 

“There was a freeze a long time ago, and they got me out for my safety. It got bad enough that we had to relocate, and during the journey the little ass-kicker ran off to fetch a damn dog. Long story short I went after her, and that apparently earned me enough brownie points to be part of the workforce.”

“And when the Whispers came, Carol asked you to do something for her,” Maggie continued. 

“Yes,” he confirmed quietly. “She asked me to kill the leader. The one who killed her son.”

Silence fell between them for a moment. Negan actually felt it might be dangerous to move.

“Why’d you do it? Why did you agree to help her?”

That was easy to answer, yet he felt it would be an insult to admit it to her. The fact that he had wanted people to move on from the past he had bestowed on them. To Maggie no one should have forgotten what he'd done to all of them. He wasn’t meant to be given a chance, or trusted with any mission or form of work they had for him. But that was the reality she had returned to, and it was getting to her. After thinking on his words carefully, he replied.

“I wanted a chance to change. Really prove that I had changed after living in this hell for so damn long.” A small amount of weight lifted from his shoulders just from telling her this much. He certainly didn’t expect to move her, but he hoped she believed him at the least.

“And do you really think you’ve changed?” It came out more like a challenge rather than a sarcastic question. 

Again it was easy to answer. He rarely thought of who he used to be, and whenever something came up to remind him of that sick bastard version in the leather coat, he’d twist up in a mix of shame and guilt. He never wanted to revisit the old him again, but his hand in ending Alpha had resurfaced a piece of that. It made him hope afterwards that he wouldn’t have to do a mission like that again. He needed to avoid bringing about bloodshed.

“I believe I have.” Unconsciously he got to his feet while keeping his gaze firmly locked on hers. “I never want to be the man that hurt you and the others ever again. Makes me sick just thinking about it. And, I know it probably won’t mean much to you, but I am sorry for killing your husband.”

Maggie was standing quite still, holding his gaze with a quiet kind of anger. When she dropped her head, Negan braced himself for the worst of her wrath.

“You’re right. It doesn’t mean much to me,” she stated coldly. “I haven’t been here in years, so I haven’t seen how you’ve changed for myself. I know my husband would forgive you, but I can’t. You took someone very important away from me. And you also took him away from my son.”

Negan didn’t expect his eyes to become moist, particularly when she brought up the fact that her son was fatherless. 

“I know, and I—”

“Don’t say anymore.”

He didn’t. Instead he waited for what was to come next. She hadn’t accepted his apology. She was too full of pain to do so, and he didn’t blame her. So all that was left was for her to finish him off at last. Seeing him outside of his cell had broken her resolve to leave him living. 

“The council’s gonna decide what to do with you. I’ll be adding my voice as well.”

Negan nodding, figuring as much. Maggie placed her hand on the cell door and shut it, expressing how she felt he should continue living.

“Don’t think it’s over between us.”

The words gave rise to a new spurt of anxiety, but he wasn’t surprised to hear she wasn’t done. It would only end once his fate was confirmed. Either nothing would change when it came to his current role in the community, or he’d find himself separated from Alexandria through one of two possible outcomes.

She turned toward the exit without another word to him, leaving Negan to imagine what their next encounter would be like. Since she hadn’t bothered to hurt him then, he wondered if she was saving it for later.

He wasn’t shocked when the vote was to exile him. No one was quite at the point of being relaxed enough with him having his own home in Alexandria. Though there was an acknowledgment of his change, the wounds were still deep within the community, especially after the thought that he had betrayed them by joining with the Whisperers. The idea of that was enough to bring back the idea that the old Negan was still in him. 

He figured it might have been a different outcome if he’d been out of his cell sooner, working before their eyes. It hadn’t been that long since he’d been granted the opportunity. Instead it was years spent out of sight, which only encouraged the fact that they couldn’t see him changing. As he stood at the gates with a bag of supplies over his shoulder, he asked himself if he really had changed. Maybe there was still work he needed to do on himself. 

Gabriele had hinted at the possibility of him being accepted in Alexandria sometime down the line. It was just that it couldn’t be so right now. Healing needed to happen after the Whisperer war, and after that, well it was possible they’d be more open to looking at him again.

Negan hoped so, and for now he would take what he could get from them if it meant he could keep breathing air and trying to change himself.

He looked at Daryl who was standing nearby seeing him off. 

“I’ll try not to pester you for supplies,” he said with a grin. “I know me knocking on your gate doesn’t put a pretty picture in your heads.”

“No, it brings back bad memories,” Daryl said seriously, bringing down the lightness of Negan’s words. “If you do come to the gate, I doubt anyone will shoot you.”

“Well that’s encouraging. But I’m a grown-ass, so I should know how to look after myself.”

“So long as you don’t fall to your old tricks of forcing people to provide for you.”

Negan’s smirk disappeared into a flat line. He knew Daryl wasn’t assuming. It was simply a warning. Now that he would be away from those that helped influence his change, Daryl didn’t want to hear about a return of the bat-shit crazy bat wielding Savior. He didn’t want a return of it either.

“Don’t worry. That’s shit’s over. And even if I was stupid enough to go back there, I’m smart enough to know you’d fry my ass. You, or Maggie.”

The thought of her caused an uncomfortable twist in his gut. He never bothered to ask what Maggie’s say in the council meeting was. He simply assumed she voted for execution. 

“Tell the little ass-kicker bye for me, and that I’m sorry I didn’t see her off.” If Judith hadn’t currently been at the Hilltop, he imagined she would have made it in time to catch him regardless of how early it was. She had caught him before when he was escaping. “If she comes looking for me, I’ll keep her safe as I bring her back. But I hope she doesn’t.”

Daryl gave a bit of a nod, not finding the idea of Judith sneaking out to see him stunning. 

“I’ll keep an eye on her.”

Once the gates were opened, Negan began to move toward the outside. The sooner he was gone the sooner the community could breathe. He wanted to do right by them, so he made to move. When Rick suddenly came to mind, he stopped.

“I know Rick’s decision to keep me alive wasn’t easy for you, or anyone for that matter. But if he was here now, I’d thank him.”

He didn’t turn to see Daryl’s reaction. In a way he saw mentioning Rick as being a risky endeavor. Daryl’s silence didn’t help it.

“If he was here now, I don’t think he’d be surprised by how far you came.”

Negan smiled, feeling appreciative of the response. 

“See you around.”

He went on his way, seeking out a residence not too far away that had been picked out for him.

Sometime after he’d settled down in the small shack of a house, he received a visitor he was both surprised and not surprised to see. He hadn’t expected the knock on the door, and when he answered it, Maggie was not who he figured he’d see on the other side. 

She looked less angry than the last time he’d seen her, but there was a fiery determination behind her gaze. Once again he checked to see if she was holding a weapon. This time she was carrying a gun, and he was sure she didn’t have it just to protect herself against walkers. 

“Congratulations, you’re my first guest, and maybe my last since you’ve finally come to kill me.”

“If I wanted to kill you, I would have shot you any time you came outside.”

Negan raised his brow at her admission to having watched him. He’d been housed at his new residence for about four days. Not once had he gotten the feeling he was being watched, and the only few times he came out was to seek out supplies or tend to the mini garden he had started up out front.

Maggie turned her attention to the small garden as well.

“So, you’ve settled in. Actually surviving on your own without forcing people to keep you alive.”

Negan barely resisted sighing. He really didn’t believe it was possible to change her mind about him, and he was okay with that.

“I am. It’s what I should’ve done from the start, but I didn’t, and I hate that I didn’t.”

From her unchanged reaction, he felt he was just throwing her empty words. Being that the situation of him being free was still so new to her, he knew that’s all his words would sound like to her. If it was ever possible to make her believe him, he imagined it would take years. Then again, he could see him dying without her ever having forgiven him.

“You can’t undo the past.”

“I know,” he said gravely with a bowed head.

“And killing you won’t undo what’s happened to Glenn, or Abraham, or everyone else you’ve caused to die.”

He flinched but kept his lips sealed. Again he thought of her child. He didn’t feel strong enough to meet her eyes again, but he forced himself to do so. After what he’d done, he couldn’t hide from her. He wouldn’t try and slip into the shadows if he caught a glimpse of her nearby. It was only right that he remain open to her, but he wouldn’t stop being apologetic, and he wouldn’t end himself to appease her. Changing himself was the better course of action.

“What are you gonna do now?” he asked quietly.

She took in a deep breath and looked as if she was considering the question carefully.

“I’m going to watch you, that’s what I’m going to do.” 

He didn’t know why, but the idea of her plan actually unsettled him.

“You’re gonna what?”

“I’m going to watch you, and wait, just as you watched and waited for me to come to you.” Negan swallowed, surprised that she had noticed that much about his behavior before she revisited him in the cell. “I’m going to watch and wait for any sign that shows you’re still the Negan I remember from that night. If it shows, you know what’ll happen.”

Negan brought up a small smile more as a way to try and shake off his own rising anxiety.

“Why put my on guard by warning me?”

Maggie just gave a dark smile in return.

“I came to remind you why you’re out here, why you’re free. You won’t be aware of me, and anything can happen between now and then to make you forget that I’m watching. One little slip. One wrong move is all it’ll take.”

Now he felt like he understood. He may have been set free by the Alexandrians, but Maggie had metaphorically imprisoned him by becoming his guard and making him stay aware of himself at all times. It didn’t seem especially hard since he had wanted to change, but he couldn’t help thinking of situations like his hand in the attack on Hilltop with Alpha. There was nothing to suggest that he would always remain alone in his shack. Maybe Carol or even Daryl would fetch him for future assistance. Maybe before then Judith would track him down and visit. If he made any action or screw up that suggested he was still the sick bastard of the past, the bullet in Maggie’s gun would find a place in his head.

Naturally he didn’t expect her to take residence out in the woods to watch him all day and night. She was a smart woman, and he had a feeling she had her ways of getting the information that she needed. So she would know if the old Negan slipped back into him. He prayed that it wouldn’t, for her sake and his own. He wouldn’t dismiss how easy it might be to revert to his old self, especially now that he was on his own.  
With a look of satisfaction, Maggie turned on her heels. With shaky legs, Negan dropped to his knees as if he’d been punched in the gut. It shouldn’t have to be this way. Maggie shouldn’t have felt she had to do this, but that’s how it was now. With Maggie watching he wasn’t quite free, and in a twisted way he wasn’t alone. Now he was starting to wonder if it had been better to stay in his cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't see the show repeating the possibility of Negan getting executed. So I figured he'd either get exiled or forgiven enough to be allowed to stay in Alexandria. I looked between the comics and assumptions for the show and for this particular outcome Negan is exiled, with a possibility to get back into Alexandria in the future. I also liked the reverse of Maggie watching and waiting on him.


End file.
